ROGERS, Ark. – Chevy pro Bryan Thrift of Shelby, N.C., caught a five-bass limit weighing 13 pounds, 15 ounces Sunday to win $125,000 at the Walmart FLW Tour presented by Straight Talk on Beaver Lake with a four-day catch of 18 bass weighing 54-8.
“I don’t want to slow down,” said Thrift, who is the reigning Walmart FLW Tour Angler of the Year and has posted seven top-10 finishes and two wins in the last eight events dating back to the 2009 Forrest Wood Cup. “I want to catch them everywhere I go. That’s my goal.
“After yesterday when I caught a big bag I thought I might have a chance (to win),” Thrift added. “As slow as it started today I thought it was over. I didn’t think there was any way I was going to catch a big bag. And lo and behold I pulled into Prairie Creek landing 10 minutes before weigh-in and threw my jerkbait beside a cedar tree. It’s sinking down through there and my line jumps and I catch a 3 1/2- or 4-pounder five minutes before weigh-in. So that’s definitely what did it for me. I culled a 12-inch (spotted bass) with it.”
That 12-inch fish was the only cull of the day for Thrift on Sunday, as he caught only six keepers on the last day of competition.
Thrift said he began the tournament catching fish on a translucent jerkbait with a blue back around timber on points and was having some success, but was tipped off by fellow North Carolina competitor Matt Arey that the fish seemed to prefer a fast retrieve, which bucks the notion that jerkbaits should be slowed down in colder water temperatures.
“I took it down the lake the third day to where I’d been catching them,” Thrift said. “I was in 4 feet of water jerking the jerkbait just as hard as I could jerk it and they were knocking the paint off of it. It was ridiculous.
“But today with the sun and no wind I had to slow down a lot,” Thrift said. “I caught one big one shallow first thing on that jerkbait jerking it real fast and all the rest of them I caught on cedar trees.”
Thrift said he changed the stock jerkbait hooks to larger hooks that would make the bait sink slowly. He said he would twitch the bait up to a tree and then dead-stick it and let the bait fall by the tree for 20 to 30 seconds (15 to 20 feet) before the strike would come. Thrift said this method produced eight bass from one cedar tree.
Thrift’s winning setup consisted of a 6-foot, 6-inch Damiki Dark Angel medium-heavy rod, a rod Thrift called “hands-down the best jerkbait rod” he’s ever thrown. Thrift relied on an Abu Garcia Revo reel and 10-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon to finish out his rig.
“I’ve had fished wrapped up in trees all week and bumping rocks and docks,” Thrift said. “That line is ridiculous strong to be 10-pound line.”
Thrift said he also caught two of his weigh fish during the tournament on a bluegill-colored Damiki DC-200 crankbait.
Thrift opened the tournament in 36th place Thursday with three bass weighing 8-11. On Friday he added another five bass weighing 11-6 to move to 16th place. He then caught five bass weighing 20-8 Saturday to make the crucial top-10 cut in second place.
The catch gave Thrift the win by a 2-pound, 2-ounce margin over Stacey King of Reeds Spring, Mo., who caught a total of 19 bass weighing 52-6 and earned $35,000.
“I fished three patterns primarily,” said King, who posted his highest finish in an FLW Tour event. “I had been catching a few fish on a jerkbait just like some of the other guys, then on a cloudy, windy day I caught them on a (Storm) Wiggle Wart a lot. Now, when it was sunny and bright I was fishing a little Cordell Super Shad that’s not even made any more. I fished them for 35 or 40 years and that’s what I caught most of them today on.”
King said his baits were shad colored with the exception of a green craw Wiggle Wart. King said his Wiggle Wart fish were scattered on steep banks and in creeks and his other fish were found on steep secondary points in coves that featured cedar trees.
“I’ve fished Beaver for many years on and off,” King said. “I don’t fish over here very much, but I have fished here a lot over the years. It fit my program pretty well.”
The remaining top 10 pros finished the tournament in:
3rd: EverStart pro Ron Shuffield, Bismarck, Ark., 16 bass, 49-4, $30,000
4th: Pickens Plan pro Randy Blaukat, Joplin, Mo., 20 bass, 48-8, $25,000
5th: Matt Arey, Shelby, N.C., 20 bass, 48-4, $20,000
6th: AMP Energy pro Stetson Blaylock, Benton, Ark., 15 bass, 43-10, $17,000
7th: Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes pro Dave Lefebre, Union City, Pa., 19 bass, 42-12, $16,000
8th: Walmart pro Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., 20 bass, 42-11, $15,000
9th: Castrol pro David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., 18 bass, 37-4, $14,000
10th: National Guard pro Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., 16 bass, 35-9, $13,000
Overall there were 44 bass weighing 105 pounds, 15 ounces caught by pros Sunday. The catch included seven five-bass limits.
Keeton Blaylock of Benton, Ark., won the Co-angler Division and $20,000 Saturday with a three-day total of nine bass weighing 23 pounds, 6 ounces followed by Mark Horton of Nicholasville, Ky., in second place with eight bass weighing 18-0 worth $7,500.
In FLW Tour competition, pros and co-anglers are vying for valuable points that could help them qualify for the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup presented by Walmart, where they could win up to $600,000 – the sport’s biggest award – and $60,000 respectively. This year’s Cup will be in Hot Springs, Ark., Aug. 11-14 on Lake Ouachita.
Pros and co-anglers are also competing for the prestigious Walmart FLW Tour Angler of the Year presented by Kellogg’s in 2011 that will be determined by the most points accumulated over the six Tour Majors. The pro winner will receive $100,000, while the co-angler title holder will win a new Ranger 198VX with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.
The Walmart FLW Tour on Beaver Lake presented by Straight Talk was hosted by the Rogers Convention and Visitors Bureau, and was the second of 10 Walmart FLW Tour tournaments of the 2011 season. The Walmart FLW Tour on Lake Hartwell presented by Chevy will be the next tournament and will be held March 24-27 in Greenville, S.C. The event will be hosted by the Greenville Convention & Visitors Bureau and the Anderson Convention & Visitors Bureau and boats will launch from Portman Shoals Marina in Anderson, S.C. For a complete schedule, visit FLWOutdoors.com.
Coverage of the Beaver Lake tournament will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on VERSUS. “FLW Outdoors” will air April 10 from 1 to 2 p.m. ET. “FLW Outdoors,” hosted by Jason Harper and Laura Schara, is broadcast to more than 500 million households worldwide.
For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow FLW Outdoors on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWOutdoors.
About FLW Outdoors
FLW Outdoors is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world offering anglers worldwide the opportunity to compete for millions over the course of 191 tournaments in 2011. FLW Outdoors has taken fishing mainstream with the world’s richest fantasy sports game, FLW Fantasy Fishing presented by Straight Talk, where competitors can play for free as well as sign up for Player’s Advantage to gain an edge. For more information about FLW Outdoors and FLW Fantasy Fishing, browse FLWOutdoors.com or visit FantasyFishing.com.